Page 7 of Duke of Destruction
Andstared.
Catherine was no nervous debutante, new to the pressures of Society life. Goodness, even when she’d been a debutante, she hadn’t been a nervous one! Between the legend that had circulated around her grandfather Cornelius and the tragedy that had struck her family when she was thirteen years old—a fire that had all but eliminated her father’s generation—Catherine had been in the public eye nearly all her life.
But that stare was unyielding, and it made her want to twitch.
Lady Catherine Lightholdernevertwitched.
“Kitty,” Ariadne said at her elbow, drawing Catherine’s attention. She never should have taken her attention off Ari in the first place. She was here as her sister’s guide and chaperone, not to indulge whatever bizarre feuds existed in the minds of tall, intense dukes.
“Yes, dearest?”
“Lady Reid says she would like to introduce me to her youngest son when we return to London. I was vague about it because I wanted to ask—do you think I should encourage the association?”
Right,Catherine thought. This was why she was here: to guide her sister through potential social pitfalls.
“I think so,” she told Ariadne, ignoring the fact that she couldstillfeel the duke’s eyes on her. “Alistair Reid hasn’t a title, but he’s known as a good man and a savvy investor. I also believe he has a remarkable aviary.”
“I think I would enjoy looking at the birds,” Ari mused. “Perhaps not touching them, though.”
“We shall be certain to negotiate no touching of birds in any marriage contract that is to come,” Catherine said with mock solemnity. This made Ariadne’s shoulders unclench slightly, though she still did not look at ease.
“It’s just very hard to know what I hope to find in a husband,” Ariadne confessed quietly. “I don’t know how you are supposed to know a person until you’ve spent time with them, and the only way to do that without risking my reputation is to marry them, and by that point, it’s too late!”
Catherine laid a reassuring hand on her sister’s shoulder. This was not the first time she and Ariadne had had this discussion, and she gathered that it would not be the last, either.
“You do what you are doing,” she reminded her younger sister. “You ask those who know. You spend time together with a chaperone. You trust your instincts.”
“My instincts are telling me to go home.”
“Fine, then you trustmyinstincts,” Catherine amended with a smile. It was a good sign that Ari felt comfortable enough to argue. “Have I ever led you wrong?”
Ariadne bumped her shoulder against Catherine’s. It wasn’t themostladylike gesture, but Catherine would allow it, for the sake of her sister’s ease. “No, you haven’t.”
“Quite right. I will not let someone who does not deserve you get close, my darling girl,” she said, tucking an errant curl back up into its pin.
It was moments like these where Catherine was certain that the feelings she felt for her younger siblings were not all thatdifferent from those a mother felt for her children. And that was a blessing, wasn’t it? Because her chances of ever being a mother herself were vanishingly small—and growing smaller with every passing year.
“I know, Kitty.” Ariadne was finally starting to look relaxed. Then, she glanced over Catherine’s shoulder and, in an instant, grew as rigid as she’d ever been. “That gentleman is staring at us.”
Catherine didn’t have to turn around to know which gentleman her sister meant, but she did anyway, to provide cover for her irritation. It was easy enough to hide her emotions from acquaintances, but Ariadne—indeed, all of the Lightholder siblings—knew her too well to be fooled. Normally, Catherine liked that they were close enough to read one another so well, but right now, she didn’t want Ari to see her discomfiture. It would only make her sister’s anxiety spiral all the higher.
Indeed, it was the Duke of Seaton, who was looking at her like she was committing some sort of unspeakable depravity instead of having a quiet conversation with her own sister.
“Ah,” she said to Ariadne, forcing lightness into her tone. “That’s the Duke of Seaton. He is in Parliament with Xander. Perhaps I ought to go say my greetings. Why don’t you go chat more with Lady Reid? Even if you don’t make a match with her son, she’s kind and knows just about everyone.”
And, Catherine thought privately as Ariadne mumbled an agreement,she is harmless.Which meant that Ariadne would besafely ensconced in conversation while Catherine went to handle this…man. It was the only non-offensive term she could think of for him.
She would think all the more accurate terms later, when she wasn’t worried that they would show through on her expression.
For now, however, it was time to put an end to…whatever this was with the Duke of Seaton.
His expression grew even more sour—a marvel, truly; who would have thought it possible?—as she approached.
She gave him an exactingly correct smile, one that said she was being polite but was going no further.
“Good evening, Your Grace,” she said lightly. “Are you enjoying the party?”
His face pinched, like he’d bitten into a fruit and gotten a lemon instead of a fig.
